Henderson Smaller Companies (ticker: HSL) was launched in 1887. It has been a small-cap trust since 1982, but only entirely focused on UK small-caps since 1999. After a difficult period for HSL, Neil Hermon was appointed lead manager in November 2002, and he refocused its portfolio using a growth at a reasonable price (GARP) investing style. He went on to outperform his benchmark in 16 out of 22 years, with an annualised NAV return of 12.1% and an excess return of 1.7 percentage points per year, assisted by an average gearing level of some 10%. Hermon retired last month, and Indriatti van Hien...